Commercials. Penguins and polar bears drinking lots of caffeine. I can't imagine that could end well.

Lex at the medical center. He's pacing. A nurse shows up and tells him that Lana's lost a lot of blood. Why aren't the Kents or anyone else here to support Lex? "There's gotta be something that you can do!" Lex cries. The nurse's face doesn't seem to agree.

Lair of Lex. Only it's Papa Luthor's office now. Papa sits bathed in unholy light at a desk as Lex slinks into the room. Lex, standing firmly at the doorway, says, "Dad, I, uh, need some help." Way to show some resolve. Papa Luthor doesn't doubt it. "Why else would you be here on Christmas Eve?" Now, I know Bo's probably not rich, but couldn't Lex have asked his bestest new buddy for some help? Couldn't a state senator pull some strings? Couldn't the Planet, for that matter? A charity car wash? Anything? This show acts like Papa Luthor is the only person who can afford a helicopter ride in all of Kansas. Lex doesn't explain very well. He says that they've started transfusions (but doesn't say for what), and that Lana needs a specialist. Lex mentions a specialist at the Davis Clinic in Metropolis. Papa Luthor looks up from his sleek Alienware laptop and drink to scoff: "Oh, Lex, what a sorry situation you've gotten yourself into." Coldness! Lex doesn't think Papa Luthor understands: "My wife is dying and I need the helijet to save her." Ooh, a helijet. Fancy! Papa understands, but he doesn't care. "I'm talking about Lana!" Lex yells. Lex tries to appeal to Papa Luthor's familial side: "She's the mother of your grandchildren." "How can I have grandchildren? I don't have a son," Papa tells him.

Lex bends down and slams Papa Luthor's laptop shut. Thanks a lot, Lex. He was just about to finish my last recap. "You can save her!" Lex sputters, near tears. "No, Lex," Papa says smoothly. He leans back and says that every decision Lex has made has brought him to this point. Papa's been cold in the past, but I think he'd much rather have Lex (and Lana) indebted to him than just let Lana die. There's a better angle here, and it's lazy writing to say Papa Luthor wouldn't squeeze them both and take the long view on making Lex pay for deserting him. And turn their kids against them, for that matter. Lex says it's because Lex forfeited the state Senate race to Bo Duke. I know this is in Lex's head, but it also goes against Papa Luthor's wanting Lex to lose the election. "I told you this would happen," says Papa Luthor, as a shattered Lex walks out of the room. "I warned you." Papa says that when Lex made that decision, he left behind the money and power that would have allowed him to save his wife. Except he wouldn't have that wife. So, moot point. Papa scoffs in disgust: "Pathetic." He goes back to his online porn. Papa digs one last dagger in; he says that Lex wanted to be free of the Luthor family to live happily ever after: "Go on, then, Lex. You better get back to it." Lex tears up.